Today the 2011 Idaho State Legislative Session began. There are many important issues we will be working on this year but I’ve received a number of questions about PERSI and what will happen with it. As you have probably read in the papers there is one legislator that is looking at bringing forth a bill to try and change PERSI. We are working with the other associations involved in PERC to educate members of the legislature about PERSI, the current benefits, and the dangers of changing it. At this point we feel that the situation is serious, but there is no reason to hit the panic button. Although we have been hearing about PERSI attacks for the past several weeks, I think we really need to get into the session a little deeper and see how much motivation there really is to go after our retirement.

Even if a movement develops to do so, we feel that we have strong arguments against doing so. PERSI is one of the strongest retirement systems in the country. As of 1/3/2010 PERSI was 88.4 % funded and the amortization period is less than 15 years. Maintaining the current plan is good public policy and changing it will do little to nothing to improve the budget situation. Additionally, it would be expensive to convert over to a defined contribution plan. The following link will send you to a good video about the history of the fund and the current practices, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRFKj4uWPaE .

We will be keeping you up to date throughout the session on this and every other issue that affects firefighters. As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.